Scottish Parliament responsibilities

It also has the power to impose duties on Scottish public authorities and cross-border public bodies operating in Scotland.

The act defines equal opportunities as:

"the prevention, elimination or regulation of discrimination between persons on grounds of sex or marital status, on racial grounds, or on grounds of disability, age, sexual orientation, language or social origin, or of other personal attributes, including beliefs or opinions, such as religious beliefs or political opinions."

Equality and the budget

We want to be confident that our financial decisions help produce positive outcomes for everyone in Scotland. This is at the heart of Scottish Ministers' ambitions for a socially just nation.

We have developed a systematic approach to assessing budget decisions for their impact on equality groups.

Assessing the equality impact of policy proposals and related spending means the experiences of different groups must be taken into account. This means that budgets can be targeted to benefit specific groups which helps to avoid, or reduce, particular negative impacts.

The equality assessment of the budget is presented in an Equality Statement, published each year alongside the Scottish Draft Budget.